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Post by aineo on Dec 30, 2014 8:12:43 GMT -5
Have any of you had experience companion planting cucumbers and sunflowers? We typlcally grow our cucumbers in large cages, much like we do our tomatoes, but this year I am going to either need more cages, let the cucumbers sprawl on the ground, or let them climb another plant. I figure a stout, tall sunflower should be able to handle the weight of a cucumber plant, but I am not sure the cucumber's tendrils are going to be able to wrap around the sunflower to climb. Any thoughts or experience?
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Post by nicollas on Dec 30, 2014 9:37:23 GMT -5
Sunflower are allelopathic so watch carefully how your cucumbers are doing, or do some research to see if the species are compatible
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Post by aineo on Dec 30, 2014 10:46:29 GMT -5
I had read that, but the little information I can find suggests these two plants can live in harmony. It is certainly something I will pay attention to if I go this route.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jan 1, 2015 13:57:01 GMT -5
Both Sunflowers and Cukes are allelopathic. If you're going to do this, don't try to direct seed the cukes. Do them from transplants and let us know what happens!
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Post by littleminnie on Jan 3, 2015 19:43:52 GMT -5
I did it years ago in my home garden. It didn't fail but the sunflowers fall over and the leaves are so similar I missed a lot of cukes. So I do not do it anymore.
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Post by aineo on Jan 8, 2015 13:38:28 GMT -5
Thank you everyone - I might try it still, as I love to experiment like that.
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Post by diane on Jan 8, 2015 14:26:04 GMT -5
the sunflowers fall over /quote] Were you growing sunflowers with single large heads? They often blow over for me. Maybe sunflowers with many smaller flowers would manage to stay upright.
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Post by Al on Jun 6, 2015 17:35:44 GMT -5
I've am trying a bit of companion planting based on the "3 sisters" of maize, beans & squash.
I have some baby corn plants about 50 cm (20") high & have just planted some beans nearby; Cherokee T of T, turtle & pinto, hope they will climb up the corn. I will cover the ground with Hoikado squash. But was considering trying some cucumbers also, maybe training them up the corn enough to lift the fruit off the ground. But now I read cucumber is (negatively?) allopathic,. Sunflowers also, apparently. I had been thinking to train some beans up sunflowers. Just how strong is the negative effect of cuc.s & sunflowers? Does bringing the plants together after they are both growing strongly allow them to continue happily despite the allopathy? I will watch with interest corn & sunflower with & without cuc.s.
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Post by littleminnie on Jun 6, 2015 18:27:40 GMT -5
I've done all the interplanting stuff and it usually isn't a good idea. Companion planting of adding flowers and herbs to the garden is a great idea.
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Post by littleminnie on Jun 17, 2015 20:05:12 GMT -5
Ironically sunflowers have volunteered with the cucumbers this year.
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Post by steev on Jun 18, 2015 1:51:35 GMT -5
They're just trying to confuse you.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jun 26, 2015 10:56:11 GMT -5
Supposedly the effect makes it more difficult in the following years to grow anything where sunflowers were. Over the last several years I have been trialing plants that grow with onions. Lettuce does great with onions as well as spinach, tomatoes, and most of the greens I have tried. The did very poorly with beans and peas.
I began doing the same thing with carrots. Carrots have done great with kale and cauliflower & broccoli. They also did okay with beets and onions.
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Post by reed on Jun 28, 2015 4:30:59 GMT -5
I have a couple volunteer beans, probably rattlesnake or KY wonder that are doing great growing in the sunflowers. It is a new spot though. I always have sunflowers along the north edge and when I made the garden bigger that spot moved about 10 feet. The old spot where sun flowers grew for years now has potatoes. The potatoes seem to be doing fine.
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Post by mskrieger on Jul 2, 2015 10:19:45 GMT -5
My four year old stuck sunflower seeds in all over her little garden plot. The sunflowers are doing great, as are the zinnias; the melons that she direct seeded (some super-old seed from the old Seeds of Change, as I recall) are growing fine. The carrots are stunted. I was thinking it was because they were getting shaded by the sunflowers...maybe it's a root allopathy competition thing, instead. Hm.
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Post by RpR on Jul 8, 2015 23:49:13 GMT -5
I have volunteer Sunflowers in my garden and have for several years.
Usually I let the grow in the berm planted with carrots, onions, lettuce etc.
This year there were few in the berm and they came up late but I let some go in the potatoes.
I also had volunteer squash in the potatoes but the squash was outdoing the potatoes, both were very large so sadly all very healthy squash plants were ripped out.
I trim the leaves on my sunflower off, repeated so there are no leaves except on the top two feet or so.
The wind still breaks them off, even ones with stalks over two inches in diameter but there is no shading problem.
I staked on very large one up with a wooden rod but eh flower was so heavy it finally snapped off just above the pole.
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